Phosphate and Borate Bioactive Glasses

Inorganic glasses are successfully used in the biomedical field, in particular degradable glasses have found applications in tissue engineering, bone regeneration and tooth remineralisation. Silicate glasses are the most commonly used ones but phosphate and borate glasses are attracting more and more interest owing to their special properties, differing from those of silicate bio-glasses. Phosphate and borate glasses thus open up potential routes for new therapeutic applications. This book focuses on these emerging materials. Bridging the phosphate and borate glasses communities, this book provides a fundamental treatment of atomic structure and physicochemical properties before highlighting their current and potential future applications. Phosphate and borate glasses not only feature a broader range of glass formation than silicate glasses. Their ability to completely dissolve in water with the solubility varying over orders of magnitude with compositional changes, makes them exciting materials for delivering therapeutic agents into the human body. Biomaterials scientists working in glasses, hard tissue engineering and regenerative medicine will find this a must-have book to own, alongside their more traditional silicate glass tomes.